Film Screening 6th October, 2018

The Breaker Upperers

7:00 PM, 6th October, 2018

Rating M

Length 81 mins

Year 2018

Every year, around the halfway mark, there’s an unheralded movie that gets a release and barnstorms its way into the general public’s hearts (and wallets and purses and debit cards). Recent examples of this include The Big Sick, Hunt for The Wilderpeople and Little Miss Sunshine. They usually have one or two recognisable faces, but otherwise give no indication through trailers and publicity that they will be as good as they are. They are also usually comedies.

This year’s unheralded sensation looks to be The Breaker Upperers. It’s the tale of two women who, for a large fee, will end a relationship that the hirer is too cowardly to garner the emotional courage to leave themselves. Of course, the two women have differing views on intimacy, and so we get a gamut of expressions and emotions to connect with and laugh at.

Written and directed by the two women who star as the central couple, it’s also executive produced by Taika Waititi (director of Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok), so you can expect strong New Zealand self-deprecating humour throughout. The movie is both hilarious and heart-warming, and therefore it’s one not to miss.

Wellington Sludge

Midnight Oil: 1984

8:31 PM, 6th October, 2018

Rating M

Length 89 mins

Year 2018

In 1984, a Year 9 student in a suburban working-class school in the Port Adelaide area wrote an essay about the environment and sent it in for a competition. The essay won, and the prize was tickets to see the Midnight Oil concert at Memorial Drive on November 2, as well as a chance to meet Peter Garrett backstage.

That Year 9 student was me. I have already relayed all of my minimal memories of the situation (apart from me stuttering when introduced to Garrett!), but it illustrates why I have a keen connection to Midnight Oil: 1984. The movie was edited together from a bunch of 16mm footage director Ray Argall had recorded in the day, as well as archival news footage and newspaper articles about Garrett’s political career running for a Senate seat as part of the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

It’s a must-see for any fan of the band, but it’s also an intriguing snapshot in time of 1980s concerts, education and politics. Whilst I am disappointed to report that my younger self does not appear in the film, I can still highly recommend Midnight Oil: 1984.